from Pixels to Patchwork: March 2012

Monday, March 26, 2012

Colorwheel Geese Vase Rug

I hope everyone had a great weekend! This weekend was awesome, because we saw The Hunger Games. I have been obsessing about that for over a year now, so I am sure my husband is glad that it finally came out and he doesn't have to hear about it anymore! This weekend was kind of a bummer also, because the new Mad Men season started and I don't have cable! Now the long wait for it to hit Netflix begins!

Last week was such a slow week for sewing. My house becomes a complete disaster after a major project, so a majority of last week was spent spring cleaning and getting my lawn to look a little more respectable. I am so behind on my blocks of the week, but I did manage to get the Foundation Piecing for the Terrified Week 4 Block (from The Littlest Thistle) done. I am seriously excited about this one! I can remember admiring this block on Pinterest, wishing I could sew something like it! I used my remnants from the owl quilt, plus Bella Solids Stone & Charcoal. I had bought the Stone for another project, but it ended up blending in more than I wanted, so I am glad I found another use for it. I quilted and binded it and it is currently serving as a vase rug. I love the look of the geese circling the vase.

I've done most of my sectional pieces for the NY Beauty QAL, so putting those together is the plan for the rest of the week. I have three quilt tops taking up valuable floor space right now, so I am hoping to get one of those done as well. Good thing I have a lot of extra time on my hands this week!

Linking to: Manic Monday at SewHappyGeek, Little Quilt Monday at Pieceful Life, and Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations.

Copyright © From Pixels to Patchwork 2012. All rights reserved.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Hootenanny Quilt

Third finished quilt of the year, fresh and crinkly from the dryer! (Pre-Quilting Photo | Pre-Crinkle Photo) The Hootenanny is my second completed quilt from Dare to Be Square Quilting by Boo Davis. My husband saw the book after I gifted him the robot quilt and immediately wanted me to make the Hootenanny for his owl-collecting aunt. I dragged my feet a little, but once I got going the quilt came together really fast. This quilt is an exact replica of the one in the book, because that is the way my husband liked it. Also, he knows asking me to make any decisions in the process makes any project take three times as long! I only had to decide on a binding color and it took me three days to commit! My quilting lines are more, um..."organic" than the ones in the book. Let's just pretend I was going for an artistic representation of tree bark. :)

This quilt was a TON easier to put together than the robot quilt, but a lot harder to cut for. It is a lot easier for me to cut 1,000 blue pieces, than 20 in "various greens!" I let my husband pick the prints, but there are a couple I hid. I would have rather not bought them at all, but he was really insistent! Of course, he doesn't even notice they are missing! This quilt will be finding a new home in Beaumont, TX tomorrow. I'm sad to see it go, but I guess I can't hoard every quilt I make (just most of them).

There are some more versions of this quilt in the Dare to Be Square Flickr Group. Also, Kristy at Quiet Play is working on a gorgeous pink and white version!

This is my Monthly Make for March. Linking to Finish it Up Friday &

Monday, March 12, 2012

Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL Finished Quilt Top

Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL Completed Top

The Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL is drawing to a close! I am so happy I decided to join this QAL, despite my initial reservations that I was too much of a beginner. I was super industrious at the beginning of this QAL and bought all the necessary materials ahead of time. I never do that and yesterday I remembered why...two months is a long time and I completely changed my mind about the final look by the time I was putting it all together! I tried to wait, but the quantity numbers on all the fabric sites kept taunting me as the Juicy Blossoms stock got lower and lower.

My initial plan for the triangles was to alternate the blue star fabric and the grey dot fabric, but that was too busy. Then I changed to a solid gray (trying to find a way to incorporate Evil Cylon Gray in something!), but that was too boring. Then, I thought about buying different fabric. I ended up resisting the temptation to shop and used gray dot fabric by itself. The fabric kind of gives the blocks a rockin' look! I plan on binding with all the blue star fabric I didn't end up using.

You can see more quilt tops from this QAL at the Flickr Pool. It is amazing how different they all look, even though we were working with the same blocks. Thanks Jenna, for such a great first QAL experience!

Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL Blocks

Linking to Manic Monday Linky Party at SewHappyGeek

Copyright © From Pixels to Patchwork 2012. All rights reserved.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Quilt Block Monday!

Happy Monday all! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I woke up this morning with all these great plans, but then I went back to sleep! I did get a couple of blocks done though. Here is my collection of blocks for the past week:

QuatraStar Foundation Pieced Block from the Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL - I liked the leniency on seam allowances and the ease of ripping seams, but I still prefer paper piecing. Not going to lie, a big part of the dislike was having to trace the pattern four times! I stared wistfully at my printer while drawing out the templates. I like being able to see the lines on the back and I had a hard time seeing through the muslin. I also missed ripping the paper. It is kind of therapeutic! One more block to go on this QAL.
HST Block of the Month: March at In Color Order - Not much to say on this one, except I am happy that I finally have a block where all the triangles have points :)
String Block for Foundation Piecing for the Terrified at The Littlest Thistle - Fun and easy block, using my scraps from the Snuggly Layer Cake throw. This will make a good companion pillow!
Block 0 for the New York Beauty QAL at My Go-Go Life - My first curves, fun! Part of my curve is more pointy than I would like, but it is less pointy than expected so I am counting this as a WIN! I had to redo the inner circle. It helped going medium-slow instead of slow on the curves. When I used the slowest setting, I tried to control the machine too much and ended up with a very odd looking curve! Since the first part went OK, I am going to go for the full circle as soon as the Sew. Happy. Quilt. QAL wraps. I had a hard time deciding on the background fabric. I love the contrast of white, but Good Fortune looks really good against gray and is less easy to destroy than white. White is just begging to have coffee dumped on it! In the end I decided on contrast. I'll just keep Shout close-by at all times!

Now I am off to fix dinner. Pork Pacifica, yum!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

TNT Thursday - Project Runway, Here I Come ;)

One Hour Skirt using Alexander Henry's Amelie

A little something different today, in honor of Try New Things Thursday at Happy Quilting. This is my first clothing attempt, since a disastrous pajama shorts incident in 9th grade Home Ec. I made the One Hour Skirt (links to the free tutorial on Etsy) from Sewing in a Straight Line by Brett Bara. It was really the "Two Hour Skirt" for me, because I don't care for reading directions. :)

The new skills for me on this skirt were elastic & French seams. I almost skipped over the French seams, because it sounded fancy and hard. I am so glad I didn't, because it was so easy and it looks so nice!

I am also working on the "Shirred to the Max" dress in the same book. I am hoping one of you is a shirring expert! While it did shrink down to almost half its size (really fun to watch for the easily amused), I still need it to lose 5.5 more inches. I had the steam iron on full blast and I threw it in the washer and dryer...nothing!

My last new thing was using my narrow hem foot. It worked really well! I had to practice a few times to get the hang of using the scroll. It makes a real nice finish.

WIPS:Shirred to the Max from Sewing in a Straight Line & Spring Ruffle Top from Sew Mama Sew

I missed patchwork a lot after this week, so I am heading back to my quilt projects! They all look the same as last week, except my owl has ears and my shawl gained a foot. I got organized and wrote everything down in my planner, so I am ready to tackle some WIPS!

Only a few more days until the New York Beauty QAL starts, I'm so excited!

**Linking to Try New Things Thursday at Happy Quilting & Make it Wear it Thursday at The Train to Crazy**

Edit: Just realized it is Small Blog Meet Day at Lily's Quilts! The Small Blog Meet helps newer bloggers with less than 50 followers meet others out in blogland. I love meeting new people and seeing everyone's projects, so this is a really great opportunity. I met a lot of great bloggers last time I participated, so I am really excited to join up again. You can check it out by clicking on the button to the left!

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